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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25420927">The Suthay Chronicles Chapter 4: The Convent</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vicsvinny/pseuds/Vicsvinny'>Vicsvinny</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>The Suthay Chronicles [6]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Elder Scrolls, Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Cyrodiil (Elder Scrolls), Dunmer (Elder Scrolls), Gen, Khajiit (Elder Scrolls)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-07-21</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-07-21</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-05 05:07:49</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Mature</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>4,715</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25420927</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vicsvinny/pseuds/Vicsvinny</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <em>Daedra:</em>
</p><p>Daedra refers to the otherworldy beings that inhabit <strong>'The Realm of Oblivion'</strong>; Oblivion being an alternate dimension to Mundus, or the world as we know it.<br/>Daedra are often referred to as 'Gods' or 'Demons', with the occult, or insane often seeking out their services, or power. Though the Daedra are known to withhold such power, or willingly lie to trick mortals into doing their bidding.<br/>Daedric Princes are extremely powerful Daedra that rule over their own Planes of Oblivion. Effectively their own sub-dimensions within. These Daedric Lords often embody different aspects of life for mortals, and gain power through respective acts, thoughts, or worship respectively.<br/>Lesser Daedra often serve a Daedric Prince, with some Princes having access to their own breeds, or types of lesser Daedra.</p><p>It is not uncommon for cults or followings to appear, worshipping a Daedric entity. Whether that be a Daedric Prince in various forms, a Lesser Daedra, or a hither-to unknown being.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>The Suthay Chronicles [6]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1817335</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>The Suthay Chronicles Chapter 4: The Convent</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <strong>------Later that day | Gold Coast Road to Kvatch | 3:25pm------</strong>
</p><p>The sky was a moody black. Thick bulbous grey clouds blanketed the sky, blocking sunlight and poured down torrents of rainfall upon the land<br/>
Thunder boomed and lightning crackled overhead, giving a brief flash of light before descending the country into darkness once more.<br/>
The storm had seemingly come out of nowhere, however it was nearing the beginning of Winter, so strange weather was to be expected. Probably.<br/>
Taz and Mirian were already too far down the road to turn back to Skingrad, nor were they near any farming community or roadside tavern. So they just had to press onward. Much to Taz’s great dismay.<br/>
Taz shivered and sneezed as she gripped the cloak and hood around her body tightly, her claws digging into the fabric as to provide more grip.<br/>
Mirian didn’t mind the rain nearly as much as Taz did. <em>Yes it stunk</em> that they were wandering down a stone road in a down-pouring lightning storm, and all they had as a reference was a single map. However Mirian had gotten quite good at knowing where she was, even if she had the most rudimentary of maps. Especially along the Gold Coast Road, which her and Taz used to travel on quite a bit back in the day running caravans.</p><p>Ducking under a nearby oak tree for shelter, she pulled out the map again, inspected it then glanced around at her surroundings, or at least as much as she could see.<br/>
If her sense of direction and sense of reason were correct, they were roughly ¾ of the way to the supposed spot of the mine.<br/>
At some point however, they’d have to leave the road and wander around in the nearby forests. Which should prove to be fun in this weather..<br/>
She tucked the map back into her backpack, then looked over at Taz.<br/>
To say that Taz was upset that she was out in the rain was to be an understatement.<br/>
Right now Taz had a look of acute discomfort. Little droplets of water flowed gracefully off her hood and cloak.<br/>
Occasionally, she'd wipe her snout with both of her paw-like hands.<br/>
The Khajiit had told her that it wasn’t because of some traumatic history in which she became so discontent when it’s raining, but rather it's merely because of the fact that she doesn’t like having wet fur if she could help it. It’s uncomfortable. And smelly.<br/>
Mirian stepped up beside Taz, and placed a gloved hand on her shoulder<br/>
“Hey. We’re almost there. And then we can get out of this rain” Mirian said in a reassuring tone<br/>
Taz let go of a sigh, amidst subtle shivering.<br/>
“Good” She replied, wiping her short snout of water<br/>
“You cold?” Mirian asked, knowing full well that Taz was freezing<br/>
“A little..” She muttered back as they both left the shelter of the oak tree. And back onto the road and pouring rain.<br/>
“You want my coat?” Mirian asked, slightly concerned of Taz’s health<br/>
The Khajiit shook her head<br/>
“I’m fine..”<br/>
“Y’know Taz. If somethings wrong, you can tell me. It’s not just the rain is it?”<br/>
Taz peered over at her, her feline blue eyes meeting up with the Dunmer's own red eyes.<br/>
“This One was just thinking about how unfair I’ve been to you. I just wanted to go and do something, but you wanted to stay in Skingrad. But now we are here.. And you hate me”</p><p>Mirian grinned warmly<br/>
“Oh that’s utter nonsense. I’m over it. I think I got too stiff living in the Imperial City. It’s nice being out in the wild with you once more”<br/>
She glanced up at the blackened sky above them<br/>
“Or.. Well it would be better if we had some sunlight but..”<br/>
Taz still looked like she was unconvinced. Which prompted Mirian to hug the cat, though taking care to not press her body too much against Taz, to avoid splashing any more water onto her than need be.<br/>
“I’m not angry with you Dearie” She said softly, rubbing her nose up against Taz’s furry cheek<br/>
She felt Taz’s facial muscles shift, and the Khajiit held her back<br/>
It was then that Mirian closed her eyes and reached out with her lips, searching for Taz’s mouth.<br/>
Within seconds, Taz had stepped away from her<br/>
“Not now Mirian..” She said looking away from the Dunmer<br/>
“I.. Oh my gosh.. Sorry. I wasn’t thinking it just.. Happened” Mirian said, holding up her hands<br/>
Taz yanked her hood further down her face and pressed onward.<br/>
“It’s fine. Let’s just find that damned mine..”</p><p>
  <strong>------3 Hours later-----</strong>
</p><p>The old wooden door creaked open on rusty hinges as Mirian cautiously stepped in, a small gout of flame in her hand to provide a measure of light in the pitch blackness that enveloped her<br/>
Taz shambled in, shivering, chittering and shaking as Mirian closed the door behind them, and fashioned a makeshift torch, before lighting the end on fire<br/>
“Khajiit hates the cold….” Taz whimpered amid her constant shivering<br/>
Mirian had Taz sit down on a nearby stone, held the torch in the air as she summoned a small gout of flame in her other hand, then slowly and leisurely moved her hand across Taz’s drenched body<br/>
She hated seeing Taz like this. The cat looked so defeated and vulnerable. Her whimpering only worked to soften the Dunmers heart further<br/>
Eventually however Taz stopped shaking uncontrollably, and it became a more steady quivering.<br/>
“You good now?” Mirian asked<br/>
Taz nodded and stood up<br/>
“Alright. We still have a job to do. I’ll take point”<br/>
Taz nodded and reached for her bow, holding it in one hand, while the other was at a steady angle to quickly reach for an arrow.<br/>
Mirian drew her sword, held the torch forwards and slowly pressed on into the mine-shaft.</p><p>The air was thick and ominous. No sound was heard apart from the storm raging outside, muffled from the layers of rock above them. Every now and then the occasional stone would tumble downwards, creating an echoing crackling blaring which sounded as if an avalanche were occurring deeper in the mine.<br/>
Every step they took sounded like they were stomping. It was way too quiet in here.<br/>
What’s more, there were no signs of habitation. The mine-cart rails were rusted, broken and snapped in places. Iron mine-carts lay long abandoned on the tracks, loaded with stone and ore, or sitting along the walls. Discarded tools and burnt out lanterns lay along the walls. But the stranger thing was, there were no skeletons or corpses anywhere.<br/>
Mirian relied heavily on Taz to see what was before them. As Taz had the gift of being able to see nigh-perfectly in pitch-blackness.<br/>
This whole place seemed wrong, and she always had this feeling that they were being watched constantly. Taz apparently shared her paranoia, as not long after they had ventured into the mine, Taz dug her claws into Mirian’s padded shoulder, but it wasn’t forceful, rather she could sense the cats fear and uneasiness channeled through her talons.<br/>
The support pillars lining the walls creaked and groaned under the weight of the rocky ceiling, the wood making up the supports slowly rotting and fading away.</p><p>Eventually they reached a large chamber, walls lined with iron deposits, some had pickaxes still embedded within them.<br/>
Varenis didn't give them any type of backstory or history of this place. Mirian had no clue how old this mineshaft actually was. It could be relatively recent. Or hundreds of years old...<br/>
And it is here where they found their first skeleton. Crumpled on the floor, almost as if it had been killed where it had stood previously.<br/>
Mirian stood over the corpse, holding the torch up to inspect it<br/>
The skull had a distinct crack in it, hinting that the death was caused due to head trauma administered by heavy blunt object followed by severe hemorrhage.<br/>
The pickaxe was still clutched in the skeleton's hand.<br/>
“Wonder who or what killed them..” Taz quietly muttered next to Mirian<br/>
Mirian didn’t respond, but waved the torch around, revealing several more skeletons scattered around, some of which were missing limbs.<br/>
Most were gathered along the far wall, all thrown into a crumpled pile of dirt and silt-covered bones.<br/>
Mirian was no expert on studying the corpses in order to figure out what happened. However, she deduced that this place was not right. Not in the slightest.</p><p>It is then when Taz gasped, or rather shrieked and held a hand over her mouth as her fur stood on end<br/>
“What do you see?” Mirian asked, concern embedded within her words<br/>
Taz pointed a shivering finger at the far wall<br/>
Mirian held the torch in the direction, and lit up a ghastly sight</p><p>A darkened passageway led further into the mine, however leering before the tunnel was a wooden board, nailed to either side of the narrow passageway, and hanging by its neck was a fresh Elven body, strung up by a coarse rope<br/>
It remained still in place, no wind blowing up against it, and a thick black hood covered the head, hiding the identity of whoever was underneath<br/>
“Fuck me…” Mirian cursed as she cautiously approached it, Taz was behind her, trembling slightly with an arrow ready just in case.<br/>
The Elf, a Bosmer female, was stripped bare, her naked body was scarred heavily in markings and runes carved in by knife to resemble Daedric lettering. Blood stained rags were tied around her arms and legs, flesh was skinned to reveal muscle or bone underneath. However most disturbing of all was the gaping hole in her chest, where the heart once was. Now it was an empty cavity<br/>
Taz inched closer, then after seeing the body in its entirety she vomited in disgust<br/>
Mirian didn’t blame her. She won’t condone the acts she had committed back with the Morag Tong, but she <em>NEVER</em> went this low.. This was just flat out <strong>WRONG</strong><br/>
She held up her sword and gently poked the hanging body. There was always an uncertainty with the dead. Especially in a fucked up place like this..<br/>
Taz had finished retching her breakfast and lunch out on the dirt floor. She groaned and held her stomach as she nervously gazed back at Mirian and the body.<br/>
"We’re on the right track” Mirian remarked, looking back at Taz as she wiped a few straggling bits of vomit from her mouth with a cloth<br/>
Taz didn’t nod or agree with Mirian. She just stared at the ground and forced her way past the hanging body and into the tunnel behind it.<br/>
Mirian did the same.<br/>
There was a light at the end of the tunnel.</p><p>“I think we found our sadists” Mirian said, her voice in a hush whisper<br/>
Taz already had an arrow drawn, but still shaking from the body.<br/>
It is then when Taz’s ears twitched and she hissed for Mirian to put the torch out<br/>
“Hear something?” She asked, only for Taz to smack the torch out of the Dunmers hand, then shush her again<br/>
Mirian held her alert stance, ready to strike at the shadows at a pin drop. Her previous assassin training kicked in.<br/>
All she could hear were the usual creepy cave sounds they had grown somewhat accustomed to by now. A bat squeaking off in the distance, a small rockfall which sounded like a landslide, but then.. A voice.. A scream.. Which grew louder.. Choing and banging off of the stone walls…</p><p>                            <strong>GGGGGGGGGGGRRRRRREEEEAAAAGGGGHHHHHHHH</strong></p><p>A single blood-curdling scream resonated through the tunnel as the entire mineshaft lit up in a blood-red mist as the scream pierced it’s way like a dagger into the former silence<br/>
Then just as soon as it appeared, the red mist vanished along with the scream as it faded, as did any further sound.<br/>
Taz and Mirian were frozen in horrified alarm. This was definitely not a regular Daedric cult. </p><p>This was something <strong>FAR</strong> worse</p><p>It was too dark to tell, but Mirian was certain that every hair on Taz’s body was standing on end, trying to escape from her body.<br/>
<em>“Mirian….”</em></p><p>She then felt Taz hug her firmly, seeking comfort and solace<br/>
She held the Khajiit back, but kept her guard sternly about her<br/>
Then the voices returned, but they were not screaming. More like.. chanting.<br/>
<em>"Dagoth Mi'karll... Molag Drazz Ak'viraarilll"</em><br/>
Mirian stood up and held Taz’s hands in hers<br/>
“No torches. But we will hold hands. I’ll lead.”<br/>
Taz tightened her grip as acknowledgement as they slowly made their way, brushing against the wall for both safety and guidance as they edged closer to wherever the chanting was coming from.</p><p>Eventually they came upon a large cavern.<br/>
In the centre was a Daedric altar of some kind. Surrounding it were stone platforms, with bloody skeletons and fresh corpses dumped in piles around the foundations.<br/>
On the podiums themselves were robed and hooded cultists in tattered red robes holding their arms up in prayer to an iron-forged deity upon the center altar.<br/>
Mirian couldn’t make out what Daedric Prince that abomination was supposed to be.<br/>
The cavern was well lit too, with braziers and torches, lit aflame with a green, unnatural fire.</p><p>Taz suddenly squeezed Mirian’s hand<br/>
She looked back to see the Khajiit, holding her bow as she released Mirian's hand and crept her way behind a large boulder nearby, readied her bow in a steady firing position, and drew an arrow.<br/>
Mirian looked back at all the cultists gathered. There must be at least 20 of the sicks bastards in here. Or at least of what she can see from this angle.<br/>
On the centre altar, a tall and thinly cultist, with a slightly fancier red robe that wasn't so worn stood up from a kneeling position, holding in his hand; a heavily scarred and battered captive by an iron collar<br/>
The captive was gagged and blindfolded as he was tied down to some makeshift sacrificial altar.<br/>
The man struggled and tried to scream</p><p><strong>“BROTHERS AND SISTERS OF THE CONVENT. WE GATHER TO WITNESS ASCENSION.”</strong><br/>
The cultists muttered their reply in some Daedric language</p><p><strong>“THE TIME OF RECKONING IS UPON US! BORNE ON THE BLOOD OF THE INNOCENT AND HERETICAL FAITH. WE TRANSPIRE UNTO DEATH ANEW!”</strong><br/>
And with that sentence, the cultist plunged a black dagger into the victim's chest</p><p>He screamed, the gag breaking apart in his mouth almost as if on cue, and the entire chamber was plunged into the deep red mist as the cultists cheered and uttered praise.<br/>
The Leader yanked the dagger out, ripping free a still beating heart, pumping out scores of blood all over the altar, before turning to the statue and offering the heart up to it. Uttering something no doubt vile in Daedric.<br/>
“Khajiit has had enough of this fuckery”<br/>
Taz steadied her aim and pulled back the bowstring<br/>
“Taz wait-”<br/>
She fired an arrow. Both girls watched silently as it careened freely through the dead-aired cavern before bloodily plunging deep into the skull of the Leader.<br/>
The man fell like a brick onto the stone with a loud <strong>*THUMP*</strong> as the dagger slammed onto the ground next to his body.<br/>
The cultists all stared silently at the sudden death of their leader, then with an almost unholy precision, they all turned to face the direction to where Taz was hid behind the boulder</p><p>                                                          <strong>“MOLAG DRAZZ VOLKAAR!!!”</strong>  </p><p>They all uttered in dark and unnerving voices before they drew their own daggers and charged off of their podiums</p><p><strong>“TAZ GET BEHIND ME!”</strong> Mirian yelled as she leapt from cover, clenching her sword firmly and summoning a flurry of flame within her other hand<br/>
Taz dove from cover and took up a position behind Mirian, firing off another arrow and scoring yet another head-shot, embedding within the eye socket of another cultist.<br/>
His body ushered a brief spasm before collapsing to the ground, only to be trampled uncaring by those behind him.<br/>
The cultists now held their daggers in the air, preparing to strike down and stab vehemently</p><p>Mirian took in a deep breath as another arrow whizzed past her, and watched as another cultist fell to the ground<br/>
She shot forth a steady stream of flames, burning and scorching the first few cultists that ran ahead of the others, yet despite them being engulfed in flames they still ran forwards, their skin melting and and peeling away, though the 'things' didn't seem to care at all. The only thing that came from their mouths were dark prayers and damning screams.<br/>
Mirian braced herself to dive out of the way, when two arrows sailed past her, passing straight through the skull of the cultist nearest to her, and taking out another behind him.<br/>
Two more bodies crumpled to the floor, but still the ravenous madmen ran forward, screaming in dark utterances</p><p>The first cultist to get within melee range took a series of quick and wild jabs at Mirian<br/>
She backed up and sidestepped her way around the flurry, before ducking below him and rising up in a single, fluid motion, running her blade clean through the man's throat. Before quickly ripping it free, spraying blood and gore across her armour to deflect a blow from the next aggressor.<br/>
She slid her sword down the cultists’ blade, slicing clean into her wrist and in the process, dismembered the hand entirely.<br/>
Red-hot blood and gore splattered across Mirian's leather-gloved hands, as she then felt a sudden wave of dark energy behind her, upon which she spun around only to see a cultist collapse forward, dagger in the air and an arrow embedded into his skull as Taz’s kill count kept rising.</p><p>Mirian focused back on the girl in front of her, who now began clawing at her with her one hand<br/>
Mirian was quick to stab her blade through the woman's chest, before ripping it free, kicking the body over and slitting the throat of her next attacker.<br/>
However instinctively she backed up to Taz’s position, as Taz used up her last arrow to fell a large and muscle-bound cultist, who after he collapsed, his hood fell back revealing to be an orc.<br/>
There was still a group running after them, they were the stragglers who took their time, and not being the closest to them.<br/>
Mirian braced herself for another grueling melee, when something flew blindingly past her head, mere inches away. It wasn’t an arrow.</p><p>That's when she heard Taz wince and scream in pain.<br/>
She quickly shot a glance back, to see the Khajiit collapse and hold onto her shoulder as a streak of blood oozed from under her hands, Then the clanging of metal on the wall behind her as a dagger slammed into the wall.<br/>
Mirian’s eyes glared in a deep crimson as rage overtook her. <em>Now it was personal.</em></p><p><strong>“FUCK OFF!”</strong> Mirian screamed in blind fury and sent forth an inferno of white-hot scorching flame, which set the remaining cultists ablaze instantly. But unlike the others, these ones froze in their charge and began to scream and wail in agony as they were utterly engulfed in fire, collapsing soon afterwards in a pile of charred bodies and ashes.<br/>
Mirian puffed and panted, glaring around the chamber in search of more victims to sate her ire<br/>
One cultist, the entire lower half of her body burned away to charred bone, was crawling towards her, screaming and coughing in agony, a black dagger still clutched in her scorched hand<br/>
Mirian stalked over, before forcefully kicking the dagger out of the girls hand, the bones crunching and splintering within her burnt flesh, before Mirian’s sword plunged deep into the girls hooded skull, a morbidly satisfying <strong>*CKKHRUNCGH*</strong> As the blade seamlessly splintered through the weakened bone and muscle.<br/>
She ripped the blade free, stained with blackened dark red blood.<br/>
The red mist which clouded her vision had faded away, and she saw before her a blood stained and scorched chamber.<br/>
She looked back at Taz, and of the corpses surrounding where she had held her ground, then at the Khajiit as she had crawled up to the wall, and was in the process of bandaging up her arm<br/>
Mirian ran over, and knelt before the Khajiit, placing her sword down</p><p>“Are you hurt badly??” She asked<br/>
Taz shook her head<br/>
“It only grazed me. I’ve had worse..”<br/>
Mirian took the bandages from Taz’s hand and helped her, then reached into her bag and pulled out a small bottle, upon which she poured some sticky liquid into her palm and lathered it upon the crevices between the bandages.<br/>
Taz winced from the stinging it caused, but she knew that the potion would help greatly in the healing process<br/>
Once Taz was all patched up, Mirian got back on her feet, and looked back at the remnants of their battle<br/>
“You did well Taz. Very well. I thank you for.. Saving my ass” She smirked<br/>
Taz tried to smile but found that she couldn’t. Despite Mirian making jokes, she felt this was neither the time nor the place to show any sense of joy, relief or happiness. What they had witnessed here was fucked up beyond anything she would’ve guessed they could have run into. She’s fought necromancers before, but those guys normally don’t.. Ok; well those necrophiliacs are pretty screwed up, but.. Something about these cultists just.. Wasn’t right in the slightest.</p><p>Taz was fine, despite her not smiling back at her, Mirian knew that the cat was grateful as well.<br/>
Now she affixed her attention on who the actual hell these bastards were.<br/>
She looked around for a cultist who was mostly intact, and not burnt to a smoldering crisp.<br/>
She found the girl that had her hand dismembered. Who then attempted to claw Mirian's eyes out afterwards..<br/>
<em>Talk about dedication..</em><br/>
The body was of a relatively slim build and short height compared to the rest.<br/>
She flipped the body over, and pulled down the hood.<br/>
She was Bosmer, and a pretty little dilly too, were she not dead, missing a hand, and.. Well.. a batshit insane lunatic.<br/>
Her eyes were bloodshot red however, and not the usual yellow or green which most Bosmer possessed. However she didn’t seem to be vampiric, or a thrall of a vampire. No fangs or pale skin to speak of.<br/>
She then proceeded to rip apart the bloody robes, searching for any further clues.<br/>
The Bosmer had a lot of what looked like ritualistic scarring in various shapes, vaguely making out daggers and skulls, but none in any recognizable patterns that Mirian could discern as to the identity of this cult.<br/>
On her left index finger however, was a single bronze ring.<br/>
Noting that this was the only thing of value and interest on the body, Mirian pulled it off and examined it.<br/>
A faint hue of energy resonated from it, signaling that it was enchanted, or rather cursed. But with what, there was no way of knowing presently.</p><p>Taz had fully gotten back on her paws by now and had wandered over to Mirian.<br/>
She peered over the Dunmer’s shoulder at the strange ring<br/>
There was nothing outwardly special about it, it was just a bronze ring.<br/>
“Taz. Check on the leader. And be careful, I still don’t feel like letting my guard down.” Mirian said, pointing over at the altar<br/>
Taz nodded in response and made her way over, glancing around at the bodies she had killed with her impressive marksmanship. She felt a certain measure of pride in putting down these vile beings.<br/>
She stopped before the Altar, and of the iron deity perched on it.<br/>
The being was made out of a crudely hammered iron. Probably mined form this very shaft.<br/>
It’s head was of a serpent, with a female human body. <em>Naked,</em> of course. It had four arms; all ending in either a bent and twisted dagger, or a disfigured hand.<br/>
Taz knelt down next to the leader, flipped the body over and examined the corpse.<br/>
It was of an elderly Imperial, which would explain why he was so easy to kill. This guy looked to be ancient for a human.<br/>
He was heavily scarred, a blind left eye, creepy face paint, arrow embedded in his skull...<br/>
Then she noticed an amulet..<br/>
It had a silver chain, and at the end was a carved skull made out of obsidian. The skull itself was encased in a finely polished copper locket.<br/>
And it too had a faint magical residue about it.<br/>
“Mirian!” She called out<br/>
The Dunmer quickly ran over and looked at the amulet with Taz.</p><p>“Yeah.. That’s unlike anything I’ve ever seen. We should go before that.. Statue comes to life. Grab the dagger too and let’s go”<br/>
After quickly scrambling for the dagger, and hurried their way out, but not before Taz had to hold onto Mirian and look away as they passed the hanging body, they once more emerged into the cloudy outside world.<br/>
The sun was now setting far off in the distance, which was good because now they had a measure of sunlight to go off from for a little bit.<br/>
Taz took a step forward, before dropping her arms, turning back and embracing Mirian, while sobbing softly<br/>
Mirian held her back and stroked the felines head.<br/>
”I hate cultists…” Taz whimpered<br/>
“I know. That was fucked up. But it’s over now. We should make haste back to the Count. Then, we can get drunk and forget all about today. How’s that sound?”<br/>
Taz peered up and nodded her head<br/>
They made their way back through the forest, following the same path they had taken before.<br/>
Taz was glad that they knew the way back. The more she held onto this amulet, the more her fur shivered..</p><p>
  <strong>------6:00am | Skingrad | Next Morning------</strong>
</p><p>It didn’t seem right.<br/>
On their journey back to Skingrad, the amulet Taz was carrying gradually felt heavier and heavier in her pocket.<br/>
Mirian assured her that the amulet wasn’t sentient and wasn’t trying to kill her. But something about the thing.. It made her uneasy.<br/>
When they gave it to the Count, who was waiting eagerly for them, he stared at it silently for a solid ten seconds before making any movement. Upon which he dropped it into a small box and ordered it to be brought to the basement post haste.<br/>
He then assured them that he’ll have payment ready by tomorrow, and requested that they left him for the night.<br/>
The necklace was <strong>DEFINITELY SOMETHING OF IMPORTANCE.</strong></p><p>And Taz, being the inquisitive little feline she was, spent the majority of the night in the town’s library, researching for any clues about it.<br/>
The only thing she came up with was in reference to a coven of Necromancers up in Skyrim. But that seemed unrelated to a group of insane cultists in Western Cyrodiil. Still.. It could’ve been something..<br/>
She had actually fallen asleep in the library, only recently been woken up by a servant who ushered her out because she was drooling on the books.<br/>
As she entered the West Weald Inn, she was greeted by the Orc Innkeeper<br/>
“Khajiit! There you are. The Count had a guard give this to me early in the morn. It’s addressed for you and your Dunmer friend.”<br/>
He handed Taz an envelope<br/>
It was simply labelled as <em>‘Payment’</em><br/>
She peered up at him, feeling the envelope to get a sense of how many septims was in it, but it felt empty save for one lump of metal.<br/>
“Thank you.. I hope this is gold or something..”<br/>
“The Count always pays his dues. Now go get some rest and tidy up. You look awful.”<br/>
The Orc gave the Khajiit with scraggly fur, drooping ears, floppy tail, bloodstained fur, and grimacing face a foul look.<br/>
“Will do..” She muttered and made her way upstairs<br/>
She stopped before their bedroom door and took another glance at the envelope<br/>
Hopefully it’s something really valuable.<br/>
She opened the door, stepped in and froze in place with wide eyes upon witnessing Mirian, naked and asleep; next to an equally naked and asleep Argonian<br/>
<em>IN TAZ’S BED. </em></p>
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